Another Lifetime to go

19th February 2024

Dharma, the oldest dog, the one older than dirt, had a funny five minutes. Kelli came out of the bathroom and saw her standing completely still looking straight ahead with her tail thrust firmly between her legs, a sure sign that something was wrong.

We tried to get her attention, but she continued staring.

Oh no, I thought, the ground is still too cold to dig a hole. Gradually she came round and climbed into her basket, but it was worrying.

It so happened that we had an appointment with the local vet to give both dogs a rabies jab.

By the time we got to the vets, via picking up some supplements for Kelli, and going to Hobby Lobby to buy some modelling clay, she was back to her old self.

Phoebe had to have a lump on her shoulder checked out, it was a small benign cyst, so nothing to worry about.

Once all that was done we came back, and took them for a walk.

Dharma was fine by then, it was strange, who knows what dogs think, and see, maybe she saw a ghost for the man that lived here before? They can be sensitive to stuff, but I’ll keep the spade by the back door, just in case.

18th February 2024

It was a better night, we both only had one bathroom break, at the same time, fortunately we have two bathrooms.

I couldn’t be bothered to do much in the garage, I checked to see if the sealer I had applied to a stained top had dried, it hadn’t, so I brought it into the house. Then I kicked off my shoes and got on to the computer to play around with my CAD package.

Kelli started making the Shepherd’s Pie soup, which is ideal for this weather.

It was then bath time for the dogs. It wasn’t quite as bad as it could have been, there wasn’t a major discharge of water outside of the tub, they both accepted that they needed it, and it was painless. Of course they couldn’t wait to get out of the bathroom, and find somewhere warm to dry off.

We then went up to Kelli’s mums for ice cream and cake, which was nice, the ice cream seemed warmer than outside which was strange.

Then we made the mistake of taking the dogs for a walk, then we realised just how cold it was.

17th February 2024

Not a good start for the day. I had to visit the bathroom at 6.00am, thinking that I managed to leave the room and return without Kelli waking was wishful thinking. Now she was awake, she could not get back to sleep. It was like I had kicked her grandmother’s bunions, I had done something wrong and I was going to suffer for it. I didn’t bare to bring up the number of times she wakes me up at unearthly hours, oh no that was definitely off the agenda.

Instead I went into the cold place from another cold place and got on with some jobs. It was pleasant watching my breath until the heaters warmed the place.

I did a few more repairs to the dresser that has to be painted black, now I’m left with replacing more trim, that I cannot make without some careful thought.

16th February 2024

There was an early morning changeover of dressers. One newly painted, and one poorly painted example that we have to turn into a masterpiece.

It’s funny what people put up with, this one had broken trim all over it. There is nothing worse than trying to do a decent job with gaps and missing bits.

Straight away we contacted the customer asking if they wanted it repaired, and gave them a quote to do it.

The missing trim was all the same on the cabinet, but slightly different on one drawer.

My first reaction was to remove the trim, but Kelli didn’t think that was a good idea. Next plan was to remove one piece of trim and use it to repair all the other areas, then all I would need to do is replicate one piece, a brilliant idea, unfortunately it wasn’t mine. I reminded my wife that I couldn’t think of all the great ideas all of the time, so I gave her a chance to shine,

I was able to repair two drawers for the Jackson Pollock dresser, although it’s not a Pollock any more, that’s all been swept up and thrown in the bin.

I made two doors for another dresser, I was on a roll. Kelli stripped the paint off the top, it was a large area which took her quite a while, a fitting reward for having a good idea.

It was still bloody cold, we have to endure this until next week when the temperature will rise ten degrees, which will be slightly more pleasant.

15th February 2024

The snow returned. Waking up to a shroud of white was a bit depressing, I had plans to get the saw out to cut some timber.

There are three projects that needed bits making, so getting the saw out was crucial to getting them started.

Boy it was cold outside, everything I touched was metal and that is not respectful of my skin.

Eventually I found some gloves, but even those weren’t much help. I managed to do the cutting in record time, I couldn’t wait to get the door closed and switch on the heater.

Straight away I started working with my newly cut timber.

First were two door frames that I salvaged from some old organ panels we acquired back in the summer. I broke these down and these were perfect for the doors on a cabinet.

Before long everything was glued and clamped up, a good start. I then went on to finish scraping the tall Jackson Pollock.

Kelli put the finishing touches to the repainted dresser, and even managed to back a loaf of bread.

By the evening a lot of the snow had gone, leaving behind the wet pools of slush. With all these various and dramatic changes in temperature it’s not surprising that the roads suffer so badly. I sure tarmac is a bit more forgiving than concrete, but the potholes are taking over the state.

14th February 2023

I woke up this morning with a strong feeling of guilt, I didn’t have a Valentine’s Day card to give to Kelli. What was worse, I did know it was coming up, but I have very little opportunity to buy one because I was rarely on my own. I did go to the corner store a few days ago but what cash I had was spent on eggs and cheese.

Last night I looked at the calendar on the side of the fridge and saw the date, suddenly I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach. The only chance of redemption was if Kelli had forgotten the day as well.

I should have known better, it was six years ago that I asked her to marry me, it is carved deep inside us both, and I had failed.

Her card was warm and loving, making me feel even worse. I explained why I didn’t have one for her, and even though she said it didn’t matter I could sense the disappointment, and I had to put it right.

We had a customer arrive early to view the large dresser we had posted, so it was my job to seal the deal. That done, it was going to be a busy day. We had another visit to Plato’s closet with more Kelli’s cast-offs and whilst she waited for them to be sorted and priced, I took the opportunity to drive to get petrol and even buy a card. The heavens opened up, the sun shone down as I found a suitable example. I then planned what to write in it and decided to give it to her over dinner at the Boatwerks restaurant.

I smiled at my cunning, my guilt was replaced with smugness.

The rest of the day was filled with food shopping and stuff typical of our Wednesdays.

Our dinner reservation was early, closer to a late lunch, but four thirty was the only time available, other than eight o clock, and that was too late.

So we arrived with all the other senior people, it wasn’t that bad, but we laughed at how early it was. After we ordered our drinks I handed over the card I had secretly wrote out as she was getting ready. Actually I had enough time to write out hundreds of cards, but one was enough.

I thought it was especially appropriate as there are many pill bottles in the house.

The meal was good, we had a view over the lake and we were back home by six thirty, and it was still light outside.

13th February 2024

We are now in, what’s known as the second winter. The two days of first spring was pleasant, but now we face more wrath.

We got up late, had breakfast late and got into the garage late, so we didn’t expect to get much done.

Kelli had the dresser to paint and I had the Jackson Pollock to continue stripping. Slowly the finish came off in small curls, landing on the floor making it crunchy underfoot.

There are a couple of drawer sides pieces that need repairing, so I ran some timber through the planer to the correct thickness, but there wasn’t room to get the saw out to cut stuff down, I will do that another day.

Kelli finished her painting and went inside to make dinner, when I finally closed up shop there was a wonderful smell of a chicken pie coming from the oven.

12th February 2024

The burst of cold air flooded the garage as the doors were opened.

I was the lucky one who went out first, because the large mid century style dresser was being collected today and there were last minute checks to do, although I didn’t know when it was being picked up.

I also continued on the Jackson Pollock, scraping another few millimetres at a time. This made a mockery of my “ this will be easy” remark.

It was going to be interesting because the buyer of the dresser being collected was also bringing a dresser that they wanted painting in the same black colour, simple.

Whilst we waited, we took the dogs for a walk, the sun was shining making it a pleasant one, but once it had gone, it was freezing.

The lake looked good, still and blue reflecting the sky, this is a great place to live, in the summer.

It was a longer walk than normal, Phoebe was sniffing at very regular intervals that was sometimes annoying.

Soon after we got back things started to happen.

A truck pulled into the driveway, up went the tailgate, there was the dresser we were going to transform.

The lady had bought a mid century piece from us before, although I didn’t recognise her until she spoke. She had a childish sound to her voice, making it very distinctive.

11th February 2024

Oh a day of rest, I wish.

We made good progress on the new dresser yesterday we wanted to get it finished, pictured and posted.

After finishing breakfast, clearing up and putting on some warm clothes we made a start.

Kelli was doing the painting whilst I started to strip the Jackson Pollock dresser. I had tried paint stripper, heat gun and scraper, but nothing seemed to make an easy job of it.

In the end I used the heat gun, slowly removing a few millimetres at a time then finishing off with a sander. It was unpleasant, and I had six drawers to do.

Kelli was working like a maniac, but with a concerted effort got everything finished.

I had to machine two drawer guides and that was my total involvement of the day on that piece.

We carried the piece outside to take the pictures, it was a transformation from what we started with, I like that, hopefully people out there will agree.

10th February 2024

Well I finally bit the bullet and got an American phone. I had failed to get my old iPhone unblocked by O2, and I was fed up by the whole situation. The company rely on off-shore customer services that aren’t connected to any technical support. They tried, they failed to deliver, enough said.

So I have a spanking new Samsung and nobody to call and no one to call me, yet.

The temperature dropped quite a bit from yesterday, making it hard to work in the open, but we did anyway, priming a large dresser.

There was an interview with Vladimir Putin by an ex Fox News journalist/ opinionist that was causing a stir on the networks. He put his side of why the invasion of Ukraine happened. Of course the USA doesn’t like any other facts emerging that are different from their narrative, so confusion and misinformation continues.